page_title: USS West Bridge
section_title: Torpedo attack
hierarchical_section_title: USS West Bridge / Military career / Torpedo attack
caption_attribution_description: English: USS West Bridge (ID # 2888) In drydock at Brest, France, looking aft on the starboard side, showing the two torpedo holes received in a German submarine attack on 15 August 1918. Note the boiler visible in the aftermost hole. Courtesy of Chief Warrant Officer Keith L. Anderson, USN (Retired), 1974. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
context_page_description: USS West Bridge was a Design 1013 cargo ship in the United States Navy during World War I. She was begun as War Topaz for the British Government but was completed as West Bridge. After being decommissioned from the Navy, the ship returned to civilian service as West Bridge, but was renamed Barbara Cates, and Pan Gulf over the course of her commercial career under American registry.
  West Bridge was one of the West ships, a series of steel-hulled cargo ships built for the United States Shipping Board on the West Coast of the United States. She was launched in April 1918 and delivered to the U.S. Navy upon completion in May. After commissioning, USS West Bridge sailed from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast of the United States and joined a convoy of cargo ships headed to France in August. After the ship suffered an engine breakdown at sea the convoy was attacked by two German submarines and West Bridge was torpedoed and abandoned. A salvage crew from the American destroyer Smith boarded her the following day, and, working with four tugs dispatched from France, successfully brought the ship into port. Four men received the Navy Cross for their efforts.
context_section_description: At 17:40, West Bridge's engine broke down once again and her crew was unable to repair it. Falling off the back of the convoy and adrift, she signaled Marseillaise to request a tow. At sundown, shortly before 18:00, Montanan—still in the convoy, which was by now 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) ahead of West Bridge—was hit by one of three torpedoes launched by German submarine U-90. Montanan began to settle and was quickly abandoned. On West Bridge, Lieutenant Commander Hawkins realized the potential for another submarine attack and ordered his crew to general quarters and reduced the number of men in the mechanical spaces below decks. Noma sailed back to West Bridge, ordered the freighter to extinguish her lights, and stood by. At nearly the same time, U-107 approached and launched two torpedoes at the stationary cargo ship, scoring hits with both. The first struck near the No. 3 cargo hold forward, destroying the cargo ship's wireless, the second amidships near the engine room. West Bridge immediately began listing to starboard, and Hawkins ordered the crew to abandon ship. He and two crewmen remained behind until he felt sure that everyone else had departed. By the time the three left the stricken ship, water was up to the gunwales and lapping at the well deck.
  Immediately after the attack, Noma sped off to depth charge the submarine while sending an SOS for West Bridge. Destroyer Burrows arrived to take on West Bridge's survivors, who had situated themselves about a mile (2 km) from the still-floating ship. After the survivors boarded the destroyer, a head count revealed that four men were missing, but also turned up two female stowaways.
  By the morning of 16 August, both Montanan and West Bridge were still afloat, with decks awash. Attempts to get Montanan under tow failed, and she foundered later in the morning. Meanwhile, Hawkins and his executive officer were taken by boat to West Bridge to assess her situation. After boarding the ship and finding three cargo holds and her engineering spaces completely flooded, Hawkins advised Burrows' captain that the situation was hopeless and he would only be endangering his ship, crew, and the West Bridge survivors by remaining alongside. Consequently, Burrows departed for Brest, France, leaving the destroyer Smith to stand by the stricken vessell.
  A volunteer work and salvage party from Smith, led by Lieutenant Richard L. Conolly, and which included Chief Boatswain's Mate John Henry Caudell, and Carpenter's Mate, 3rd class Walter Homer Todd, boarded West Bridge and awaited four tugs which had been dispatched from Brest: the U.S. Navy Favorite, two French tugs, and one British tug. Over the course of the next five days, the tugs, joined by patrol yacht Isabel, slowly towed West Bridge to the French coast, eventually arriving at Brest. The ship was towed over 400 nautical miles (740 km) with only 1% buoyancy remaining. Conolly, Caudell, and Todd were each awarded the Navy Cross for their efforts in saving the ship; W. W. Wotherspoon, the fleet salvage officer on Favorite, was also honored with a Navy Cross, in part for his salvage efforts for West Bridge.
  The extent of the damage and the condition of West Bridge led to some erroneous reports of her loss. News articles on 24 August in both The New York Times and the Chicago Daily Tribune reported the sinking, and the mistaken information was recorded by authors Benedict Crowell and Robert Forrest Wilson in their work The Road to France: The Transportation of Troops and Military Supplies, 1917–1918.
  After West Bridge underwent seven months of repairs, the ship resumed service with the NOTS through 1 December 1919, at which time she was decommissioned and handed over to the USSB.
caption: Torpedo damage to USS West Bridge seen in a French drydock c. 1918. One of the ship's boilers is visible in the left rear.
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